Delhi-Washington Air India Flight Halts Mid Way, Passengers Disembarked

An Air India flight headed to Washington, DC from New Delhi was forced to halt mid way in Vienna, Austria on July 2 after a maintenance issue was detected during a scheduled fueling stop.

Flightradar24 data of AI103 showed that the flight took off from Delhi on July 2 and landed in Vienna, a departure for Washington was scheduled on the same day but the flight did not take off. 

According to Air India, the flight's stoppage in Vienna was planned, but it overstayed in the city as an extended maintenance task was flagged during routine checks. 

Additional time was taken for rectification of the issues before the flight could take off for Washington, DC. 

“Due to this, the Vienna to Washington, DC leg was cancelled, and passengers were disembarked,” the Air India spokesperson said. 

Additionally, Air India flight AI104 from Washington, DC to Delhi via Vienna was cancelled. Affected passengers were either rebooked on alternative flights or offered full refunds, depending on their preference.

Just days before the Delhi-Washington flight encountered a technical snag, another Air India flight, AI187 bound for Vienna faced an in-flight emergency. 

According to a Times of India report, shortly after the flight departed from Delhi at 2:56 a.m. on June 14, the cockpit received both a “stick shaker” warning and a Ground Proximity Warning System (GPWS) alert that cautioned, “Don't sink.”

Officials revealed that the aircraft experienced a sudden altitude loss of approximately 900 feet during its climb. The crew managed to recover control and continued the journey to Vienna without further incident.

Notably, this incident occurred just 38 hours after the tragic crash of Air India flight AI171 from Ahmedabad to London on June 12, which claimed over 260 lives.